Alternate Reality: Strength
by Celeste5502
Summary: When a monster with superhuman strength is acidentally created and starts wreaking havoc in Domino, it seems like not even the heroes will be able to stop it-unless one of them perhaps receives a blessing of some gods...
1. Prologue: Bullies

Prologue: Bullies

Another school day was taking place at the moment in Domino High, and it had finally reached that time which almost every kid eagerly awaited as the minutes ticked by on the clock and the teacher droned on and on: lunch time.

For other kids, however, lunch wasn't the best part of the day. In fact, some of them really wished that the period would get over and done with as soon as possible.

One of these kids was dashing down the hallway at the moment, hurriedly trying to make his way to the restroom before anyone spotted him. He was a rather nerdy-looking kid, with short, wavy black hair and thick glasses that framed large, inquisitive green eyes. Slung over his shoulder was a bag loaded with heavy workbooks on physics, calculus, and various foreign languages, and a tape recorder for lectures.

Right when he'd turned the corner, however, he suddenly skidded to a halt. Standing right before the bathroom door were three large, rather nasty-looking thugs with their arms folded and evil sneers on their face. "Hey, Kasuka," the middle thug, a guy with brown, closely cropped hair and beady black eyes, smiled poisonously at him. "We've been waiting for you."

Kasuka took one step backwards. "You have?" he said, trying desperately to hide the fear in his voice.

"Yeah, bro," the left guy with rather oily blonde hair and green eyes said. "We've been in desperate need of someone like you to help us."

Kasuka gulped. "Help you with what?" he squeaked with a sinking feeling that whatever it was, it certainly didn't involve schoolwork.

The right guy, sporting spiky black hair and deep blue eyes, pounded one fist into his palm. "We haven't had a chance yet this week to practice using some of our moves," he grinned. "And we'd especially like to do so with a live, actual human being."

The three thugs stepped forward. Eyes opening wide with horror, Kasuka turned on his heels, rounded the corner again, and started dashing back down the hallway.

"A moving target! That's even better!" the brunette thug laughed. Kasuka quickly picked up his pace as he heard the sound of three pairs of heavy footsteps approaching behind him.

He hurriedly ran and ran, turning an inestimable number of corners in a desperate attempt to shake them off, but no matter where he went, he could still hear the bullies, laughing and quickening their run to try and close the gap between him and them.

Finally, after one last turn, Kasuka came across the one place where he knew no bully in their right state of mind would want to go for risk of being seen as one of the geeks: the library. He quickly dashed inside and let the door slam shut behind him. Turning around, he saw the three thugs had crowded together and were peering through the tiny glass window at its top, eyes narrowed in nasty glares.

Kasuka heaved a sigh of relief. He turned around and sat down at a nearby table for a rest. "Just made it…" he panted, giving a small smile. His happiness, however, quickly turned back into fear. "But it's not like it'll make much of a difference in the future…"

He let out another, rather depressed sigh and rested his chin on his hands. "They're just gonna be waiting for me again, no matter where I go…and how many more times am I gonna be this lucky?" He groaned out, "Aw, man…" and sadly laid his head down on the table. "What am I gonna do…"

He sat there for a few minutes, contemplating perhaps writing up his last will and testament. Finally, he lifted his head up and slowly arose from his seat. He started aimlessly wandering down the various rows of books, glancing half-heartedly at the titles.

Suddenly, the particular title of one book caught his eye. Stopping, he pulled it off of the shelf and read the cover out loud: "_Different Magical Solutions for Different Situations…"_ he murmured. He started flipping through the pages and glancing at its various items of what looked like witchcraft creations, ranging from amnesia spells to love potions to incantations which supposedly enhanced one's beauty. "Must be some sort of study on witchcraft or something…"

His eyes fell upon a particular spell, one which required both an incantation and particular items in order for it to work. They opened wide with shock as he whispered to himself: "Strength enhancement…" he murmured.

After staring at it for a few moments, however, he shook his head and snapped the book shut. "Who are you kidding, Kasuka?" he rolled his eyes. "None of these things should actually be able to _work…_" he muttered. He paused. "Still, maybe I'll check it out anyway…just for a good laugh or something…"


	2. Chapter One: Spelling Correction

Chapter One: Spelling Correction

After school, when the other kids had already left for home, the six heroes were gathering up their books and stuffing them into their bags (or, in Kaiba's case, his briefcase) after waiting for a bit of time so that they could talk freely. Joey stretched and let out a loud, fake yawn. "Man, I tought dat today was never gonna end…" he said as he picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder. "You guys don't know if de teachers might ave discovered some spell or someting which makes the school day drag on and on, do ya?"

Tristan glanced up at him and asked, "Joey, did you just listen to yourself?"

Joey paused. His eyes opened wide with shock. "Did I just talk about magic like it was some normal, run a de mill ting in life?" he asked. He sat back down hard in his seat. "Oh, man…"

"It shouldn't be all that shocking, Joey," Yugi said. "We've all had our powers for so long now that I don't think any of us think twice about magic or mythical creatures being around anymore."

"Heh boy…" Joey said as he got back up. "I can just see where dis is goin'…someday I'm just gonna let some green sparks fly right in front a everyone, and de next ting I know, I'll be in some straightjacket in de back of a police car headin' right for some top secret lab where dey're gonna do a whole buncha tests on me like I'm a monkey or someting…"

"Why would you blame them?" Kaiba asked. "With your looks and mentality it's unlikely they'd be able to tell the difference."

While Tristan and Yugi prevented Joey from lunging at Kaiba, the teens suddenly heard a scream coming from the hallway. Acting upon their super instincts, they quickly dashed out to find that one of their fellow students was being flung onto the ground by a group of three bullies who laughed as he turned onto his stomach and frisked around on the floor for his glasses which had fallen in the struggle.

The thugs picked up a bookbag next to the kid, assumedly his own, and turned it upside down. Books, papers, and a tape recorder smacked down onto the guy's head, making him wince and the thugs laugh even more.

"'Ey!" Joey yelled out to them. "Whaddya tink you're doin'?!"

The three suddenly looked up and realized they were being watched. "C'mon, guys, let's beat it," the brunette amongst them said. They turned and dashed down the hallway, vanishing around the corner and out of sight.

"Buncha cowards," Joey muttered.

Yugi knelt down and picked up the kid's glasses, a few inches away from his searching, outstretched hand. "Here you are," he said, holding them out to him.

The kid gratefully took them and put them back onto his face. "Thanks," he said. He sighed rather sadly and, with Yugi and the others' assistance, started gathering up his things. "Ugh, I'm so sick of this…it's like those three just look at me and see a big punching bag with specs…"

"You shouldn't just let them get away with treating you like that," Yugi said as he handed him a calculus book. "I've had a lot of bullies in my life, and I know that you've gotta get them off your back by standing up to them."

The kid snorted. "Yeah, sure, I'll just walk right up to them and practically beg for them to beat me up…" he said as he took the book.

"Well, that's what my experience has been," Yugi said. As he picked up another book which had fallen open, he suddenly gazed at the cover with interest. _Different Magical Solutions for Different Situations? _he thought to himself. He turned the book over and looked at the page it had fallen to. "Strength enhancement…" he murmured to himself as he scanned it over.

Kasuka looked up from picking up his tape recorder and turned a furious shade of crimson when he saw what Yugi was looking at. "Uh…that's not mine, really…I just checked it out for a little laugh or two…" he hurriedly said.

A slight look of confusion came over Yugi's face. "This doesn't seem right…"

Kasuka and the others blinked. "What do you mean?" Kasuka asked.

"The spell…I think it's backwards. The wording seems…a little wrong…"

"Oh?"

"Normally you'd first state what the problem is, and _then_ the solution would come. It should read, 'To stop the forces turning my body and mind in terrible contortions/ Enhance my strength to monstrous proportions'. _Then _it could actually wor-"

Yugi suddenly felt someone poke him in the back. He turned and gazed into Joey's wide eyes, which were apparently trying to send him the message: _What de heck are you doin'?!_

A look of realization dawned onto his face. He quickly turned around, snapped the book shut, and handed it to a very confused-looking Kasuka. "I just had to do a history report on the study of witchcraft," he said as casually as he could. "That's how I know."

"Ah," Kasuka said, placing it back into his bag. He slung the bag over his shoulder and stood up. "Well, I should get going. Thanks for the help."

"No problem," Yugi replied.

As Kasuka started walking down the hallway, the others watched his back. Once he'd turned around a corner and was out of sight, Kaiba turned to Yugi, folded his arms, and said, "Wonderful job of nearly revealing your powers to a human kid."

Yugi turned a really deep shade of red. "Sorry about that, you guys…"

"'Ey, it's okay, man," Joey smiled. "I probably would've done de same ting sooner or later."

"And that was good thinking, coming up with the essay," Téa added.

"Yeah, that's something Joey would never have been able to come up with," Tristan laughed.

"WHAT'S DAT SUPPOSED TA MEAN?!"

A couple more insults, and once again Joey and Tristan were rolling on the floor in a brawl.


	3. Chapter Two: Unspecified

Chapter Two: Unspecified

After the others had managed to pull Joey and Tristan apart, they'd left the school and went their separate ways home. Now Yugi was just approaching the Turtle Game Shop when he caught a glimpse of something glowing right behind it. Cautiously, he went around the back and discovered the glow was coming from a large, round, white portal which someone was stepping out of, keeping one of his hands behind his back. He looked almost exactly like Pharaoh, save for his more orange-tanned skin.

"Spencer!" Yugi cried.

"_Hola_, Yug," the king of the Dimension of the Gods waved as the portal behind him vanished. "Everything going all right in this world?"

"Mmm-hmm," Yugi nodded. "We haven't had anyone or anything attack in a long time." He paused. "Wait-there's nothing going on in yours at the moment, is there?"

"No no no," Spencer hurriedly assured him. "That's not why I'm here, not at all." He pulled out his hand and revealed that he was carrying a rather thick, black book with a gold border and golden Eye of Horus on the cover. "I…I have a little something to give to your grandfather. Is he around?"

Yugi blinked. "He should be, yes."

"Wonderful," he said, heaving a sigh of relief. He quickly walked around Yugi and towards the front of the Game Shop. A puzzled Yugi followed after him, thinking: _What does he want Grandpa to have that for?_

Spencer pushed open the door to the shop, letting the little bell above the door jingle. Grandpa had been sitting behind the shop counter and reading the newspaper, but he now placed it down as he heard what he thought was a potential customer come in. "Welcome to the Game Shop, what can I do for you to-" He stopped when he saw who it was. "Oh, Spencer! Nice to see you once more." A serious look crossed his face. "Who's attacking what now?"

Spencer blinked. "What do I look like, a harbinger of chaos?" he said, cocking one eyebrow. He shook his head and held out the book. "I'm not here about anything like that-I've just got a little something for ya."

Grandpa took it in his hands and glanced at the side of the cover. There, written in gold letters was the title: _The First Inhabitants of the Dimension of the Gods._ He looked back up at Spencer with confused eyes and asked, "What are you giving me this for?"

Spencer shook his head. "You really don't remember all that much off the top of your head about our home world, do you? All right, let me explain: Since you're an Egyptologist, I'm guessing that you know about all of the Egyptian gods and goddesses, yes?"

"Well, of course. Amon-Ra, Isis, Osiris, Anubis-they're all vital parts of the Egyptian mythology."

Spencer smiled. "Well, they weren't myths. The gods and goddesses you've come to know actually existed. And they didn't start out as the Egyptian gods of your world back in the time of pharaohs and pyramids-they started out as our ancestors."

Yugi's jaw dropped.

Grandpa stared at Spencer in shock for one moment. A look of realization slowly spread across his face. "Wait…I think I recall it now…they were the very first human creations of the three gods of our realm, weren't they?"

Spencer nodded. "Mmm-hmm. The gods needed a few people to start off the magically powered population in their world, so they decided to create ultimate beings who could pass down the unique abilities from generation to generation-namely, our great, great, great, great…well, lots and lots of 'greats' grandfathers and grandmothers. Together, they helped to care for the world our own gods had created and assisted in getting the population off to a nice start. They taught their children and children's children everything there was to know about magic, science, technology…and after tens of thousands of years, not only had they all succeeded in learning about these key items, but they'd even started to create a few of their own. Once our ancestors saw that the later generations were doing quite nicely, they decided that perhaps they could assist other human beings in making their realms places of magic and much improved life quality. Thus, they came here."

Yugi blinked. "Wait…but the gods and goddesses of Egypt didn't exactly help them directly; they were just…the religious rulers of ancient Egypt."

Spencer sighed. "I know. That's because when they came along, your Egypt had just gotten out of a…" He paused. "Ahem, well, they'd just had a rather, erm, bad experience with magic and mystical creatures. The gods didn't think these people would be able to handle any more direct contact with beings such as themselves, so they simply watched over them from afar, making sure they were somewhat aware of their presence by placing the thought and image of themselves in their minds so that they would at least form a religion around them and call upon them for help if necessary."

"I see." Grandpa looked back down at the book. "So then you'd like for me to have this because it's about the actual Egyptian gods and goddesses in our world in reality."

Spencer smiled. "It's more than that, actually," he said. "This book explains not only what the gods and goddesses did for our people, but it also tells of their own experiences in this world, from the rise to the fall of the Egyptian empire-and it even fills in the blanks for some of your realm's unfinished myths, unknown hieroglyphs…plus actual photography of the gods themselves."

Now Grandpa's eyes lit up with sheer delight. "You…you're kidding," he said with awe in his voice.

"Nope," Spencer grinned. "But all of it is supposed to be a secret to your people unless they actually find it for themselves, so no telling this to anyone else, all right?"

Grandpa trembled with delight as he stared down at the book in his hands. Finally, he looked up at Yugi and said, "I'm closing shop up early today." He reached underneath the counter and pulled out the 'closed' sign. "Like right now!"

He dashed past Spencer and Yugi, pulled the door open and hung up the sign, and quickly ran back, around the counter, and through the door leading to the home part of the place, clutching the book firmly in one hand the entire time.

Yugi stared as he watched Grandpa run through the place. "Wow." He looked up at Spencer and said, "You've really thrilled him."

"Good," Spencer replied a bit absentmindedly.

Yugi paused. Spencer's face had a mixed look of hope and worry, with his eyes slightly lowered in sadness. "Spencer, what's wrong?" he asked.

The look quickly disappeared when Spencer glanced at Yugi. "Nothing's wrong," he said with a perfectly straight face.

The two simply stared into each other's eyes, neither one even blinking.

Finally, Spencer heaved a sigh and slumped forward. "Aw, man…" He straightened up and folded his arms. "You know your friends way too well, you know that?"

"Spencer, what's wrong?" Yugi repeated.

"Wellll…" Spencer looked back at the door behind the counter, then back to Yugi. "Can you swear that no matter what it is, you won't tell your grandfather about it?"

"Is there something wrong with Grandpa?" Yugi asked fearfully.

"Technically it's not what's wrong with him…" Spencer murmured. He looked down at the ground. "It's…what's wrong with Yuri."

"What?" Yugi said in shock.

Spencer sighed, covering his eyes with one hand. When he removed it, he looked Yugi straight in the eye and said, "Yuri…he's what we like to call…an Unspecified."

"Unspecified?"

"He…he doesn't have a special ability."

Yugi blinked. "Wouldn't Grandpa know if he didn't have one?"

"No, he wouldn't…see, normally in our world, a person's special ability is supposed to develop and at least show up by the time they reach five hundred. When he hadn't shown signs of any sort of special powers by then, I just assumed perhaps they were taking a little longer to appear than usual. I mean, he didn't exactly come about 'naturally', so why should he have developed in a normal manner? But after two hundred more years…well, I got scared, so I took him to the doctor and…with a few tests…he came to determine that Yuri was Unspecified."

Spencer looked at the ground. "I was horrified…in our world, if one doesn't have some sort of power which set them apart from the others…they're practically treated…like some sort of subspecies…I wasn't sure how it happened…maybe it was because he came about on the night of a full moon, when magic can be at its most powerful…maybe the way I did it didn't let me pass any down to him…in any case, though, I knew it had to be kept secret…there was no way I'd let my own child knowingly be treated like dirt…so I simply kept it under my hat and hoped to the gods that no one would notice…"

Yugi was horror-struck. "Oh, no…poor Grandpa…" He paused. "So why did you give him that book, then?"

"Well, after our gods were no longer recognized and revered in your world, they chose to move on to the life after this one, and now in a spiritual form, they subsequently watch over both your world's Egypt and our own world. When they see that other people take an interest in them even after they've been pretty obsolete for the past thousands of years…they become pretty enthralled, so…" He looked back at the door. "I'm hoping that if perhaps they see the huge amount of interest he takes in them, maybe they'll take pity on him and grant him a special ability at last. I mean, I know that seems pretty unrealistic, but…"

Yugi smiled wanly. "Hey, our entire lives are pretty unrealistic. So maybe what you're hoping for could happen after all."

Spencer sighed. "We'll have to see, Yug…we'll have to see…"


	4. Chapter Three: Enough's Enough

Chapter Three: Enough's Enough

The next day at Domino High, when lunch time rolled around, Kasuka once more left the classroom. Instead of rushing down the hallway, however, he casually strolled down it with a strange smile on his face.

After that kid had told him that, in fact, the spell was written incorrectly and it had to be said in another way to work, Kasuka had gone back home and thought long and hard while staring at the book, which had been turned to the page with the strength spell. Sure, the whole magic idea seemed a little ridiculous, but…was he really going to just take being some three guy's punching bag for another couple of years?

Finally, he nodded to himself and thought, _Enough's enough…I'm gonna take those jerks down once and for all…_

So, he'd looked down at the book and started with the first few steps. This spell required one to have a few certain items in his possession in order for it to work: a replication of a bull (picture found on the internet), a barbell (lightweight one borrowed from his father's exercise room), a photograph or painting of someone with incredible strength (painting found on the internet of Hercules), and some lemon peel (supposed to grant one with energy when smelled).

Now, with his items and recorder in his backpack, when he reached the corner he slowly peered around it. There the three thugs were there, waiting for him as usual.

He wasn't worried, though. This time, he was ready. All he needed was to make sure that he listened to the 'correct' version of the spell once, just so that he'd be able to say it right.

Kasuka knelt down and slung his backpack off his shoulder and down to the ground. He zipped it open and pulled the tape recorder out once more, taking care not to harm the items that went along with the spell.

"All right, you jerks," he murmured. "Once I've got this down, you're dead meat."

He hit the 'play' button. The kid's voice came out of its speaker: "_To stop the forces turning my body and mind in terrible contortions, enhance my strength to monstrous proportions._"

Kasuka felt a nasty, wrenching sensation inside of him. He dropped to all fours, with his glasses flying off his face and onto the ground. He started breathing heavily, sweat dripping down his face profusely. _What…what's happening to me? _he thought.

Suddenly, he saw that thick, curly black fur was starting to appear on his hands, which slowly became rather thick and heavy-set. His eyes widened in horror as the fur started crawling up his arms, tearing up his school uniform's jacket as his muscles started growing wherever the fur appeared…

* * *

From around the corner, the three thugs suddenly heard a low, growling sound nearby. The three turned and saw, to their utter shock, the shadow on the wall of what appeared to be a young man growing a couple of feet and gaining a large amount of fur all over his body.

"What the heck?" the brunette one said.

Finally, the creature's transformation appeared to be complete. The shadow slowly moved along the wall, heading towards the corner.

The three suddenly jumped backwards as the creature appeared. They slowly looked up into its face in fear as it loomed over them, its large shadow completely engulfing them.

"Oh snap," the blond squeaked.

* * *

A little bit back in classroom 2B, the kids still in the room looked up in shock as they heard a strange, booming growl suddenly flood the entire hall.

The six heroes, five of whom had been crowded around Yugi's desk talking and the sixth only sitting nearby enough to overhear them while reading his book, were especially intrigued by the noise. "What in de world was dat?" Joey whispered to the others.

From down the hall then came the sound of people screaming. Hurried footsteps of a bunch of kids dashed past the class doorway; one of the running kids pulled the door to Class 2B open and cried out, "Get away from here! There's some…some…_thing _wandering around the hallway!"

"Something tells me it's one of those 'special' things we take care of a lot," Yugi replied.

Kaiba snapped his book shut. "Wonderful. Insanity is just what I needed today," he muttered.

While their classmates ran out of the room and in the opposite direction of the noise, the heroes waited for a few moments, then got up and went directly towards it.

At the corner on the end of the hall, the teens came across a backpack, a tape recorder, and a pair of specs lying on the ground, along with what appeared to be black fur mixed with bits and pieces of a torn blue jacket, white shirt, and completely ravaged tennis shoes.

Joey picked up some of the fur and clothing remains and asked, "Geez, I feel sorry for whoever dis was."

Suddenly, from around the corner the teens heard the sound of glass smashing. Moving quickly, they turned the corner and saw the three bullies from the day before were sprawled out on the ground. They'd been battered and bruised profusely, with tears all over their shirts and jackets, dazed looks in their eyes and low, pained groans slowly coming out of their open mouths. A little bit further down the hallway was a window that had been smashed into pieces, with a few pieces of black fur caught in the shards.

Yugi knelt down by the brunette guy and asked, "What happened?"

The guy slowly turned his head towards him and replied, "Some…big, black thing…it came and…attacked us…" He groaned. "Whatever it was…it was strong…threw us around…easily…"

The guy laid his head back down onto the ground, too weak to talk anymore.

Yugi's Millennium Puzzle glowed and Pharaoh took over for them. He looked back at the others and said, "Come, everyone-we should take care of this creature, whatever it is, before it can harm anyone else."

"Should we do someting wit dis stuff?" Joey asked, pointing back towards the backpack, recorder, and clothing remains.

"Perhaps we should take it along with us," Pharaoh replied. "It could give us some hints as to what this thing was and where it went next."

Joey and Tristan gathered up the clothing remnants with fur and the tape recorder and shoved it all into the backpack. Once Tristan had slung it over his shoulder, the six teens made sure nobody was approaching, then transformed into six showers of various colored sparks and soared out of the shattered window and back towards the town of Domino.


	5. Chapter Four: Voice's Power

Chapter Four: Voice's Power

Spencer stood in front of the Game Shop, smiling as he stared at the front door. He'd come back this morning to see if Grandpa had been enjoying the book he'd brought, and discovered that the place was still closed, with the sign still posted up on the shop door. Through the glass, he could see that no one was even inside and cleaning it up or something.

"Must have his nose buried in the book," he murmured. He looked up at the sky and prayed, "Please my great ancestors, thank him for revering all of you!"

Just then, he saw six familiar showers of sparks swooping above him high up in the sky. He watched with confused eyes as they soared down and behind the Game Shop. "What are those guys doing here?" he asked himself.

He walked around to the back of the place to see the six shower of sparks transform back into their human selves. When Pharaoh looked up and saw him, he said, "Oh, Spencer, you're here still," he said. "Wonderful-you can be of assistance to us, then."

Spencer sighed. "Okay, what is it this time-human, mythical, or supernatural?"

"We're not quite sure yet," Pharaoh replied. "All we know is that it possessed a large amount of strength, and according to one attacked by it, it was huge and black."

"Hmm…" Spencer stroked his chin. "That's not all that much to go on…"

"We've got something else, too, we think," Tristan said, slinging the backpack off of his shoulder and onto the ground. He opened it up, turned it upside down, and let its contents tumble out.

Aside from the torn clothing, fur, and recorder, there were some papers, a couple of heavy books, and, strangely enough, a plastic bag carrying a small dumbbell, pictures of a bull and a rather muscular man, and some lemon peel.

The title of one of the books suddenly caught Téa's attention. She quickly picked it up and read: "_Different Magical Solutions for Different Situations…_guys, wasn't this the book that kid was carrying yesterday?"

The other five of that world stared at it for a second, then back down at the backpack, books, and recorder. "Hey, yeah…an all a dis is de stuff he was carryin'…" Joey said.

"_Different Magical Solutions for Different Situations?_" Spencer repeated. He held out one hand towards the book. "May I see that?"

Téa handed it to him. He let the book fall open in his one hand and found it immediately went to a particular spell for strength enhancement. "Hmm…it's an item spell, so one needs a few things in their possession at the moment in order for it to work…"

When he read the incantation for the spell, he burst out laughing. "By the gods, whoever wrote this thing knows next to nothing about actual spells! They've got it all backwards!"

"Thought so," Pharaoh nodded. "Yesterday when Yugi and I took a glance at the book while helping the child, we found that its incantations would be quite ineffective for anyone attempting to cast a spell."

Spencer stopped in mid-laugh. "Wait…you didn't…you know…actually correct it right in front of him, did you?"

"I actually did, but I quickly told him it was only because I had written a report for class about the history of witchcraft," Pharaoh reassured him. "There's no need to worry; he shouldn't have any idea at all about our abilities."

"Uh, that's not what I'm worried about," Spencer said. "You'd already have taken care of that, I know. But…" He looked down at the tape recorder on the ground. "He didn't by chance have that with him when you helped him, did he?"

Pharaoh thought for a moment. "Actually, now that I think about it…yes, I believe he did."

Spencer stared at him with horror in his eyes. Slowly, he reached down to the ground and picked up the recorder in his hands. He pressed the rewind button down for a few seconds, then pressed 'play'.

The others stared at the recorder as Yugi's voice came out of its speakers: _"To stop the forces turning my body and mind in terrible contortions, enhance my strength to monstrous-"_

Spencer clicked 'stop', his eyes wide with horror. He looked down at the ground and murmured, "Dear gods, dear gods…"

"So de guy recorded Yug chantin' de spell," Joey said. "Dat's not dat big a deal, is it?"

"Uh, _yes,_" Spencer replied matter-of-factually. "Those who possess magical powers should never, ever, _ever_ chant a spell out loud if they don't have the intention of actually putting it to use. Whether or not they want it to have an effect, if they say it, it works."

The other teens were mortified. _"Say what?!"_ Joey cried out.

Spencer reached down to place the spell book and recorder onto the ground again. He picked up the plastic bag filled with the motley assortment of items. "Yep, and considering that he had all of these items with him, I'm guessing that the kid decided to make use of the rewritten spell to see if he could actually have it take effect." He glanced down at the book, still open at the strength enhancement spell, and added, "And considering how this spell is worded and what you guys told me…I'm going to say it worked like a charm."

"Oh, no…" Pharaoh murmured, horrified.

"Now now, don't worry," Spencer reassured him. He pointed down at the book and said, "They've also got a spell here to reverse the effects of the previous one, I see-once we rewrite it for the way it's supposed to be, we'll be able to turn the guy back, I'm sure. We'll probably just need to make sure we bring him down as gently as possible so that we can actually cast it."

"I'll go get Grandpa," Pharaoh said, dashing around to the front of the Game Shop. "We don't know exactly how strong this monster is, so we should probably have all of the power we can get."


	6. Chapter Five: The Ancestors

Chapter Five: The Ancestors

Upstairs in the Game Shop, Solomon Muto was in his bedroom, but not reading like Spencer thought. Instead, he was lying on his back in his bed with his eyes closed and the book face-down on his chest. He'd spent all of yesterday evening and night engrossed in its tales of the ancient Egyptian gods and their myths; eventually, however, he had become so tired from staring at the book for so long that he had no choice but to close his eyes and fall asleep.

Now, he was in the midst of an extremely interesting dream. He was standing in the middle of the Sahara Desert, the hot sun shining down directly onto him in the center of the clear blue sky. The golden sands swirled around him, blending in with the warm air of the desert. He was gazing up at one of the large, golden pyramids of Egypt, enthralled to be in its mysterious presence once more. He was wearing his old archaeology clothes: a khaki shirt with lots of pockets, khaki pants, and heavy brown work boots.

"How long has it been since I've been here…" he murmured as he wiped the sweat off his brow. He looked around at the sandy landscape which appeared to stretch on to eternity and smiled. "I'll never cease to be amazed by this place…"

Suddenly, from the direction of the pyramid, he heard a voice whisper on the wind to him: _Come…_

He looked back towards it and saw that a dark, square opening had appeared at the pyramid's base. A strange force appeared to come from the place, as though it was trying to pull him towards it.

Slowly, he started walking towards the pyramid. As he approached, he felt a strange but familiar sensation wash over him, filling him to the brim with mystic energy and vitality. When he reached the entrance, he looked down at himself and saw that he'd been returned to his Prince Yuri form, clothing still intact but adjusted to fit his new body.

_Come…_the voice called again.

Although the whispering voice was a little eerie, for some reason he felt no fear or anxiety. He walked through the doorway and started down a long, darkened tunnel, lit along the way with torches held up onto the walls. As he made his way down, he felt a huge amount of magical energy coming from whatever awaited at the end. Whoever it was, their power had to be great for even a non-senser like him to feel it.

Finally, he came across a lit doorway at the very end. When he walked through it, he found that he was standing in a large, round, torch-lit chamber with all sorts of hieroglyphs covering the walls and reaching all the way up to the ceiling, so high up from the light that it was completely shrouded in darkness. Around the perimeter of the room were stone statues of representations of the Egyptian gods, from the falcon-headed Amon-Ra and the lioness Sekhmet to the corpse-like Osiris and the magical Isis.

As he gazed around the beautiful room with wide eyes, he suddenly heard the whispering voice again, this time coming right from the statue of Amon-Ra. _Former prince of the Dimension of the Gods…welcome…_

The many statues glowed with soft, golden light. Out of them came round, golden orbs which shaped themselves into human-like forms, even if they had animal heads before, and transformed into a wide variety of transparent, Egyptian-looking men and women dressed in full male and female Pharaoh regalia with white tunics for the men and flowing white gowns for the women, gold crowns, gold and sapphire neck plates, and large gold bracelets.

Grandpa suddenly had to sit down, dumb-struck with being in the presence of the most important figures in Egyptian mythology.

The spirit which had come forth from Amon-Ra's statue, distinguished from the others by a necklace with the falcon-head as a charm around his neck, floated towards him. He spoke in an echoing voice: "Arise, child. You don't need to awe-struck by our presence. You are one of our own thousands of great grandchildren."

Slowly, Yuri managed to bring himself back to his feet, although he was still quite honored and stunned with being around the spirits of Egyptian gods.

Now the spirit of the goddess Isis, wearing a necklace with a charm of a golden throne around her neck and holding a magical wand with an Eye of Horus carved into it, floated up next to Amon-Ra. "We've been watching you, former prince Yuri," she said. "Ever since you've been brought to this realm as an entirely different being, we've been keeping all of our eyes trained on you, making sure that things turned out better for you in this life than your previous one. We believe you'd agree when we say that the experience has been quite enjoyable, yes?"

Yuri slowly nodded.

"And yet…" She smiled. "Despite the fact that you were almost completely separated from your past…you were able, in a way, to remain faithful to your ancestors simply by making it one of your life's tasks to discover and know everything which remained of them in your current world. You would not imagine how much honor we felt from being revered by one in a world where our power and influence had vanished so long ago…"

"Oh, well…" He looked down at the ground and blushed. "That was nothing, really…just my interests, that's all…"

Isis shook her head. "Doesn't matter to us. We truly appreciate it. Normally we don't show it too often since, as I said, we lost influence in this world eons ago, but for a hero such as yourself…well, we're more than willing to make an exception."

"And not only that, but we wish to show it through an actual token of appreciation," Amon-Ra concluded.

"Oh, that's not necess-" Yuri started, but before he could finish, Isis pressed her finger up against his lips, surprisingly solid-feeling for a spirit.

"No, hon…the gift we are about to give you _is _necessary, in a way." She lowered her eyes. "You still haven't really attempted to look through the full extent of your memories from your past, we know, but tell us if this term comes to your mind: Unspecified?"

Yuri blinked. "Unspecified…" he murmured. "I don't think…wait…" He closed his eyes and rubbed his hands against his temples. "Maybe…something about beings in our realm…Unspecified ones…they don't have…special abilities…"He opened his eyes and looked up at his ancestors. "Is that right?"

Isis nodded. "Yes, Yuri."

He reflected for a little bit longer. "And also…they were kind of…shunned in our world, weren't they?"

"Correct again," Amon-Ra conceded. "Shunned, mocked, ignored, oppressed…life for them is not exactly wonderful, no matter how strong their magical abilities are."

"I knew some of them from magic school...they were nice kids, but that wasn't enough to get them out of all of that teasing…I felt so bad for them…" He paused. "Still, I hate to say it, but…they kind of still made me happy that I was me, even when I was getting practically tortured back over there…I'd hate to know what it's like to be special ability-less."

Isis looked away from him. Amon-Ra asked him with a rather saddened undertone in his voice, "Yuri, what's your special power?"

"Oh, it's-" He paused. "It's…it's…" He scratched his head in thought. "Huh, that's strange…I can't remember…"

Isis glanced back at him and murmured, "Yuri, hon…you can't remember because it didn't exist."

The words pierced right through him like a sharpened dagger. "Ah…huh…WHAT?" he cried in absolute shock.

Isis knelt down and placed her hands onto his shoulders. "We're quite sorry, hon…your father found out when he took you to the doctor's when you didn't display any signs of such abilities long after you should have, but he didn't want you to go through what others of your kind do, so he chose to keep it silent. Unbeknownst to him, doing so kept the hell you went through at a minimum."

"That was a minimum?" Yuri shuddered. "I'd hate to think what a maximum is."

Isis smiled wanly. "You won't have to soon, former prince," she said. She stood up straight and finished, "Because as our token of appreciation…we're giving one to you."

Amon-Ra and Isis lifted up their hands, letting them glow with golden magic. Yuri suddenly felt a warmth and mystic power flow through him, and when he glanced down at himself, he saw that his outline was glowing gold as well.

Amon-Ra shut his eyes and murmured, "May this child receive our magical blessing as desired."

Isis added, "May he be granted with an ability of his own."

"May it give him great power…"

"Against the evil that shall come his way in the near and far future."

"And may he use it to defend those whom he loves…"

"From both his past and his present life."

Then the entirety of the gods and goddesses gathered called out, "Blessed be."

Yuri closed his eyes and let the warmth of the gods' magic wash over him. He felt himself slowly lift off of the ground and into the air, their powers flowing through every fiber of his entire being.

"Goodbye, Yuri," Isis' voice called out to him, "and good luck…"

* * *

Grandpa awoke to the feeling of someone shaking his shoulder and whispering urgently, "Grandpa…Grandpa…"

He opened his eyes and found himself back in his bedroom in his present form, with Pharaoh kneeling down by his bed. "Ah, good, you're awake," he said, standing back up. "I apologize, sir, but we have to get going."

Solomon slowly sat up and murmured, "Going where?"

"We have a bit of a situation we need to deal with," Pharaoh explained. "One which is greatly of our concern."

Grandpa sat straight up. "Oh, _that _kind," he said. "One moment…"

He picked the book off of his chest and placed it onto the nightstand beside his bed. He reached down into his overalls pocket and pulled out the Dark Magician Girl charm on a tiny chain. He fastened it around his neck.

The charm started to glow with a light blue light. The light grew to blinding proportions and, once it faded away, revealed former prince Yuri of the Dimension of the Gods.

Yuri held out his hand before him. The charm around his neck glowed once more and grew into a full staff. Grasping it in his hands, he jumped out of bed and said, "All right, I'm ready. Let's go."

The two dashed out of the room, with Yuri pulling the door shut behind him. He was in such a hurry that he didn't notice the doorknob had suddenly been pushed out of shape, with his fingerprints imprinted into the metal.


	7. Chapter Six: Strong

Chapter Six: Strong

The eight heroes were soaring in the sky above the downtown part of Domino, looking around every which way to try and catch a glimpse of the transformed creature. Yuri glanced up at Pharaoh and asked, "So, what exactly are we looking for?"

"Supposedly, some sort of strange creature which may have lots of black fur and the strength of perhaps thousands of men."

"Ah." He paused, then asked, "Am I still dreaming, or does this type of stuff really happen to supers like us all of the time?"

"You're not dreaming, man," Spencer laughed. "If you were dreaming, things would be much, much weirder at the moment."

Yuri blinked. "We're flying around over our hometown and trying to find some kind of furry black creature with super-strength. That's not weird enough?"

Just then, the eight heard an incredibly loud roar come from down on the streets. Everyone looked in its direction and Joey commented, "What's de bet dat dat's exactly what we're lookin' for?"

"I'm not putting up anything," Tristan replied.

The eight flew down in the direction of the noise and into a deserted alleyway where nobody could see them land. When they went down to the end, they saw a bunch of people dashing down the street and screaming in sheer terror, followed by a car which went flying through the air and skidding down on the street, its metal bent in and windows smashed to bits.

The teens slowly turned and looked in the direction of where the cars had been thrown. Standing there on the street was an eight-foot-tall monster covered entirely in black, ruffed fur with torn-up blue pants covering its legs. The creature glowing green eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth which glistened as it opened its mouth and roared.

The eight recoiled in horror. "_Dat's _what dat spell does ta someone?" Joey cried out.

"Actually, that kind of makes sense," Spencer commented. "It does say 'enhance my strength to _monstrous _proportions', and spells have been notorious for their wording sometimes being taken just a _lit-_tle too literally."

The creature glared down at them with its green eyes flashing. It took in a deep breath and let out another loud, angry roar, its breath blowing them backwards and onto the ground with great force and emitting a rather nasty aroma.

As they got up, Tristan turned to Spencer and said, "A little?"

Pharaoh let his outline glow with blue magic. "Remember, everyone-this creature is an actual human being; we shouldn't try to harm him too badly."

The others nodded and let their outlines glow as well, with Kaiba calling out his Blue Eyes essence and Spencer bringing forth his staff.

"Awright, whatever or whoever you are, bring it on!" Joey said.

The creature glared angrily at him and, growling, brought up one foot and stamped it onto the ground. The road underneath its feet formed long, jagged cracks and shook with the force of a small earthquake. The teens quickly flew up into the air, however, before they could feel its impact.

The thing stared up at them with a very confused look on its face. Pharaoh held out one hand towards it and formed a force field which encased the creature.

It pressed up its hands against the field in confusion. Angrily, it started pounding on it wildly with clenched fists.

The eight floated down to the ground. Spencer stepped forward and, with the reversal spell clearly in his mind and items needed for it to actually work (a bag of chamomile tea, a sprig of lavender, and an orange blossom flower, all of which were supposed to have nice, calming effects) zapped up and in a pouch attached to his belt, he held out his hands and let them glow with gold magic.

_Those who have been inflicting torment will no longer cause harm,_

_Thus, the strength is no longer needed; return to normal before creating more-_

Before he could finish, the creature suddenly jumped up and smashed right down into the ground, vanishing from sight into a miniature pit. He stared at the force field where it had been in shock and said, "What the-"

The ground underneath him suddenly burst open, with a furry black hand coming right out and grabbing his ankle. Before he could react, the creature sprang up into the air, sending gravel flying everywhere, and flung Spencer down onto the ground. He smashed down face-first and skidded down the street, forming a trench in the ground and a pile of gravel before him once he'd stopped.

Horrified, the others quickly floated or ran up to him, with Pharaoh kneeling down and gently turning him over. "Spencer!" he cried out.

Groaning, Spencer slowly opened his eyes and murmured, "Can't…move…" He winced. "Aah…dear gods…" Glancing up at the others sadly, he sighed, "I need…to heal…myself…I'm sorry…" He shut his eyes, felt into a nearly unconscious state, and started to glow with gold healing magic.

Pharaoh nodded. "All right," he said. He reached down and pulled the pouch of goods off of Spencer's belt. "We'll simply need to use this and figure out what the final word to that spell wa-."

"INCOMIN'!"

Everyone quickly ducked to the ground as another car went soaring through the air and right over their heads. The creature let out another roar of anger when it crashed down a few feet behind them.

"Uh, I tink dat first we should kinda make sure it can't hurt us anymore," Joey said.

"What made you come to that conclusion, Wheeler?" Kaiba rolled his eyes.

"Any ideas, anybody?" Joey asked.

Téa stood up, took in a deep breath, and started letting her siren song ring clear and true in the air. The creature paused in its roar and stared at her with a slightly confused look on its face.

"Excellent," Pharaoh murmured. "Perhaps the creature can become so entranced that it won't be able to even move."

A few moments later, however, the creature let out another roar, stopping Téa's siren song in mid-note and sending her falling to the ground.

Pharaoh quickly ran over and helped her to her feet. "Are you all right?" he asked.

Téa nodded and, glancing down at the ground, murmured, "Sorry about that…I guess the song only works on human guys, not monster ones."

"It's quite all right," Pharaoh smiled, squeezing her hand reassuringly. "There must be another way to bring him into submission."

"All right, let's try this!" Tristan said. He held out his hands and conjured up another whole bunch of them which grabbed at the arms and ankles of the creature. When the creature merely started shaking them off, he kept on conjuring up a few more, but eventually there were so many holding onto the thing that the use of his power was really taking a toll.

To assist him, Bakura called upon some good spirits and, after granting them some ectoplasm, had them go and also attempt to hold the creature down; Kaiba conjured up rays of white lightning and wrapped them tightly around the creature's arms and legs; and Joey shifted himself into muscle-enhanced pure diamond, ran over to the thing, and attempted to hold him down with mere brute force.

When the creature had all of these things on it, however, it just made it furious. With another loud, angry roar, it finally gave an incredibly strong yank backwards, snapping itself right out of the grasp of the hands, spirits, and lightning, and sending Joey flying over it and onto the ground.

Tristan and Bakura called the hands and spirits away and the rays of white lightning disappeared. "Isn't there _anything _this creature can't just pick up and throw away?!" Tristan cried in exasperation.

Joey angrily got up from the ground behind the creature and glared at its back. "Awright, ya hairy ape, let's see ya try an lift dis up."

He held one hand up into the air and conjured up a large orb of green magic, about the size of a two-story building. With the use of his shape-shifting, he transformed the orb into pure, solid diamond, still glowing faintly with a green light.

Bringing his arm down forcefully, he directed the orb to right on top of the creature.

The beast looked up in time to see the diamond orb about to crash down onto it. It quickly held up its hands and caught the thing, but its weight was incredibly huge, forcing the monster to wince and bend its knees as it struggled to hold it up.

Pharaoh quickly took the opportunity by the horns. He dashed forward to the creature, held out a blue-glowing hand, and chanted:

_Those who have been inflicting torment will no longer cause harm…_

When he spoke, the creature suddenly seemed to realize what he was doing. It became so mad that, using all of its might, it gave one last shove to the diamond orb and sent it flying through the air.

The orb landed a bit of a distance behind the teenage heroes and started rolling down the street, coming quickly in their direction.

"OH GEEZ!" Joey cried, quickly jumping out of the street with Bakura, Tristan, Kaiba, Téa, and Yuri following suit.

Pharaoh, however, glanced down the street and suddenly saw Spencer, still knocked out on the street-and right in the path of the orb. "SPENCER!"

He dashed forward to quickly create a force field, but the creature wrench out a large piece of the street from the ground and flung it towards his head. It nailed him directly in the back, knocking him out and sending him falling face-first to the ground.

"Guys, NO!" Téa screamed in horror as she and the others helplessly watched the orb come closer and closer to them.

Just then, however, Yuri heard a small voice whisper into his ear: _Yuri, former prince…_ It was Amon-Ra. _Remember what we have granted to you…use it now, for when it is needed…_

Yuri paused for a few moments. He glanced back at the orb and his unconscious former father and grandson lying in its path.

Finally, a determined look spread across his face. He sent his staff away in a shower of light blue sparks and dashed out into the street and past Pharaoh and Spencer. He came to a stop directly by their heads, watching as the diamond orb came closer and closer.

"_WHAT ARE YOU DOIN', MAN?!"_ Joey screamed out.

"You can't possibly stop that thing!" Téa shrieked.

Yuri didn't reply. He took a deep breath and thought, _For god's sake, _please _let this work._

He held out one hand, watched as the orb rolled down just a few feet away, and shut his eyes in fear, preparing to be rolled over and crushed to pieces.

He felt the orb press up against his one hand.

* * *

Pharaoh slowly stirred as he regained consciousness, and Spencer's glow faded away, his healing complete.

The two opened their eyes and sat up. Pharaoh rubbed the back of his head where it ached and groaned a little.

"You all right?" Spencer asked.

Pharaoh looked back to Spencer and started to reply, "Yes, I'm fi-"

Something behind him, however, suddenly made him stop and stare in shock.

Spencer blinked. He turned to see what in the world was so stunning behind him-and did a double-take.

In the street behind them was a gigantic, obviously incredibly heavy orb made of pure diamond. Before it was Yuri, keeping it from rolling down towards them by holding it back.

With one hand.

"What de heck?!" Joey cried out, verbalizing everybody else's shock.

"Incredible…" Pharaoh breathed out.

Spencer smiled, glanced towards the sky and thought, _Thank you, thank you, _thank you, _ancestors._


	8. Chapter Seven: He's Down

Chapter Seven: He's Down

After not feeling any pain for quite some time, Yuri slowly brought himself to open his eyes. They widened with absolute shock when he saw the orb had pressed up against his hand but didn't feel like the tons it should have been.

In fact, it was practically a measly little paperweight to him.

An angry roar behind him snapped him and the others out of their shock. He turned to see the creature angrily jumping up and down on the ground, enraged by the fact that the orb had failed to destroy the two heroes.

Yuri's eyes narrowed, flashing with light blue magic. He called out to Joey, "Joseph, please make this thing go away for good so that I can take care of that ape."

Joey quickly ran forwards and placed one hand onto the orb, shifting it back into green magic which felt like even less weight to Yuri. He snapped his fingers and the orb went away.

Yuri put his hand down and turned to face the thing directly. He smiled sweetly at it and said, "All right, whippersnapper-hit me with your best shot."

The creature snarled as Yuri charged towards it. It started wrenching up piece after piece of the street and flung them one by one towards him.

Without even slowing down, Yuri held out one fist and pounded it right into the slabs, smashing all of them into little pieces which showered onto the ground behind him.

Finally, Yuri leapt forward to pounce right on top of the thing. It quickly jumped backwards, forcing him to land on his feet where the thing had stood.

The creature turned and, upon discovering a street lamp on the sidewalk, quickly grabbed it and yanked it out of the ground, electricity sparking out of its end. Wielding it in its two hands, it quickly turned and, as Yuri approached, flung the bottom end out towards him.

Yuri grabbed it by its post and held it with ease. He smiled at the dumbfounded creature as he slowly bent the metal back until the lamp was in a U-shape.

With its former weapon rendered useless, the creature really got ticked. It angrily threw the post away, sending it crashing through a store window behind it. It wouldn't try to use any more props-now, what the pest needed to experience was his brute force.

It held up its two hands and sent them forward with palms out to shove him down. Yuri, however, quickly countered by shoving up against the creature's hands, locking the two of them in a near standstill.

The other seven watched in shock and fear as the two engaged in a shoving contest, first with Yuri appearing to win, then the creature, then Yuri, then the creature. The two snarled in anger and exasperation as they glared at one another in complete rage, with the creature's breath coming down hot and heavy on Yuri's face.

Finally, with one last cry of anger, Yuri heaved with all of his might and sent the creature flying backwards and onto the ground. Before it could get up, he quickly slammed down on top of him and pinned the thing down by his wrists, his iron-like grip barely even letting the creature squirm.

Yuri looked over to the others as he kept the creature from wriggling out of his grasp and cried out, "NOW WOULD BE A REALLY GOOD TIME FOR THE SPELL!"

Pharaoh quickly held out his hand.

_Those who have been inflicting torment will no longer cause harm,_

_Thus, the strength is no longer needed; return to normal before creating more…alarm!_

The creature stopped in its squirming and fell limp in Yuri's arms. He got up off of it as the creature's fur and muscles slowly started going away, reverting back to the human kid with black hair, who lay on the ground with his eyes closed and breathing quite heavy.

"So, uh, he's not gonna remember any a dis, is he?" Joey asked.

"Doubt it," Spencer replied. "If a person is transformed and becomes as totally mindless and horrific as that thing was, once they revert back to their normal self, whatever happened during the little escapade is usually totally forgotten. Or just put down as a crazy dream; whatever works for them."

He snapped his fingers. The teen transformed into thousands of gold sparks which soared up into the air and down the street, vanishing from sight.

"There. He's just been sent home, back to his bed with all of his stuff, and soon he'll just wake up and wonder why the heck he feels like he just got run over by a tank."

"Good. Next question, den…" Joey looked over at Yuri and asked, "Where de heck did you get dat super strength?!"

Yuri smiled. "My former ancestors gave it to me." He looked over at Spencer. "They told me about how I was lacking in a special ability before, too."

Spencer glanced down at the ground. "Yeah…um…" He pressed his two index fingers together. "I'm sorry about that, but…"

"Ah, it's all right," Yuri smiled. "I understand why you didn't want to. No parent likes to freak their kid out like that. Plus if word managed to get around…" He shuddered. "I don't even want to know what else those thugs would have done to me."

"So…is all forgiven?" Spencer asked, holding out his hand for a shake.

"That depends-is there anything else so secret about me that I don't even know about it?"

Spencer laughed. "Nope, that's everything. I swear upon the gods."

"Then yes, all is forgiven." He took Spencer's hand in his grasp.

"YE-OUCH!" Spencer screamed.

Yuri quickly let go and cried, "What-what's wrong?"

Spencer flapped his hand up and down, letting it glow with gold healing magic. "YOUR GRIP'S LIKE IRON!"

"Oh." He blushed. "Sorry about that…gee, I didn't know that I was _that _strong…" He looked down at his hand. "I think this might take some time to get used to…"

"Well, you might want to hurry it up," Spencer winced. "I don't really think you want to be breaking things left and right."


	9. Epilogue: Taking a Stand

Epilogue: Taking a Stand

The next day, during lunch time at school, five of the six teenage heroes met up with one another in the hallway, with Kaiba only leaning against the wall nearby enough to hear them.

"So, Yug, how's Gramps doin' wit de new power?" Joey whispered.

"Wellll, he's improving with it," Yugi said, "but since last night he's managed to snap three brooms in half, knock down two doors, and get the imprint of his hand firmly pressed into the shop's counter."

"Whoa."

"You are gonna come home and find your house still intact, right?" Tristan asked.

Yugi grinned. "Yes; Spencer's staying with us and healing everything up until Grandpa finally stops breaking stuff."

Just then, the six heard a scream coming from a bit down the hall and around the corner. A few moments later, Kasuka was shoved up against the wall, his glasses falling half off of his face. His bookbag followed, hitting him right in the stomach.

The three thugs walked up to him, slightly battered and bruised from the day before but still with enough energy to pound someone.

"Aw, what's the matter, Kasuka?" the brunette thug laughed as he glanced up at them sadly from the ground. "Are you sad that we didn't get a chance to do this yesterday?"

Kasuka stared up at the three for a few more moments as they laughed with sick delight at his pain. His eyes narrowed and finally, he said, "No."

The three stopped in mid-laugh. They glared down at him and the brunette one asked menacingly, "What did you just say?"

Kasuka started to recoil a little, but he stopped himself, put his bag to the side, and got to his feet. "I said no," he replied. "I'm sick of you three always beating me up, shoving me around, and giving me some sort of weird punishment just because I have a higher IQ than you three combined."

The three stared at him in shock for a moment. The blond thug narrowed his eyes and said, "Why you little-"

"I WASN'T DONE!" Kasuka yelled at him.

The bully stepped back, his eyes wide.

"Everything is going to end, right here, right now! You three are going to leave me alone and never, ever lay even one little finger on me again! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!"

The three blinked, not believing what in the world they were hearing from the 'geek'. He took the moment to fix his glasses, pick up his bag, and walk back down the hallway.

Still in a slight state of shock, the three thugs had to pause for a few minutes before they finally turned and walked back down the hall, too, without even a slight movement or notion of going after Kasuka.

The six heroes watched all of this play out with widened eyes and, in Yugi's case, a small smile. "Wow," Joey finally said, "what de heck made dat guy finally stand up ta dose creeps?"

"Maybe being turned into that creature for a little while finally gave him the confidence he needed to do it," Téa replied.

"Getting confidence from being turned into a monster?" Tristan blinked. "Now that's just weird."

"Well," Yugi smiled, "that's our life."


End file.
